Children and Young People’s Advocacy House North: Final Report

The vision for a children’s advocacy centre in the north of England was first mooted in a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust report (Rowland 2014). Having witnessed the work of the child advocacy movement in the USA, Rowland argued that a UK based children’s advocacy centre would be an exciting and innovative project that could result in real benefits for children in the area in which it was located. He argued that the children’s advocacy centre would fully involve children of all ages in the location, design and service-specification. It would be a place where children could self-refer to get advice and support with a wide range of problems, including physical and mental health, social care, protection, help with relationship difficulties, bullying and schooling. He also acknowledged the importance of co-design and co-production, whereby the children and young people with most to gain from the centre would work with the adults with access to resources (skills and money) to make it happe

Four-year longitudinal impact evaluation of the action for children UK neglect project : outcomes for the children, families, action for children, and the UK

Neglect has a devastating impact on children and is the most pervasive form of child maltreatment in the United Kingdom. The study purpose was to establish outcomes for neglected children following structured assessment and intervention to ascertain what worked and why it worked. This prospective cohort study included 85 cases of neglected children under 8 years of age from 7 centers across the United Kingdom. Data were collected between 2008 and 2012 through serial quantitative recording of the level of concern about neglect. Serial review of qualitative casefile data was undertaken for detail of assessment, interventions, and evidence of outcomes for the child. Data analysis was undertaken by paired t-test, Chi Square, descriptive statics for categorical data, and, for narrative data, identification of recurring factors and patterns, with correlation of presenting factors, interventions, and outcomes. Paired t-test demonstrated significant decrease in overall Action for Children Assessment Tool scores between assessment (M = 43.77, SD = 11.09) and closing the case (M = 35.47,SD = 9.6, t(84) = 6.77, p < 0.01). Improvement in the level of concern about neglect was shown in 79% of cases, with only 21% showing no improvement. In 59% of cases, concern about neglect was removed completely. Use of the assessment tool fostered engagement by parents. The relationship between lack of parental engagement and children being taken into care was statistically significant, with a large effect size (χ2 10.66, df1, p = 0.0001,OR = 17.24). When parents refused or were unable to respond positively to the intervention, children benefited from an expedited move into care

Of Boundaries and Borders: First Nations' History in Museums

Abstract: This paper suggests that traditional history museums can be approached as maps that to orient their users to linear, culturally specific narratives of time and space. As an alternative, the paper proposes that we consider museum as borderlands: spaces of coexistence, negotiation, and transformation which do not assume given centres of power. Résumé: Les musées d'histoire traditionnels sont présentés comme des cartes routières qui orientent les visiteurs à travers des constructions qui sont non seulement linéaires mais aussi culturellement déterminées dans le temps et l'espace. Cet article propose une vision alternative des musées en tant que terrains neutres de rencontre, c'est-à- dire comme des lieux de coexistence, de négociation et de transformation qui ne supposent pas de centres de pouvoirs pré-établis

Culture under glass: First Nations in Canadian museums

In 1992, when this dissertation was completed, Canadian museums (among many others) were in a state of crisis over how to best provide a voice--or a forum--for the diversity of peoples represented (and not represented) within their walls. This dissertation looks at perhaps the most volatile of debates within this larger crisis: that between the Canadian museum community and First Nations. In my analysis of seventeen museums (history, art, anthropology and tribal), I have situated within the larger context of theories addressing the representation of the cultural Other, a study of the practices and politics of the collection and exhibition of First Nations\u27 art, history and culture. I have suggested that we apply the metaphor of mapping to museums; to consider them as geographic spaces which are divided, defended and privileged in the process of defining ourselves and our nations. I argue in the dissertation that the metaphorical language of maps is particularly revealing of the power relations in museums exhibits and provides us with the tools necessary to re-imagine the museum space. In traditional museum settings, museums have, overall, perpetuated the continued isolation of Native Canadians on the Other side of carefully demarcated boundaries of time, space and custom. Despite a living and highly politicized presence outside its walls, inside these museums, Native Canadians remain fixed and isolated in time and space. This essence structures the museums into a primary dichotomy here and there --which has been translated into the numerous dichotomies of the museum-- modern and traditional , past and present , myth and science , progress and stasis , active and passive , and ultimately us and them . In tribal museums and more recent innovative programming at the larger museums we are able to identify alternative maps which realign border and privilege different spaces and structural discourses. I have argued that these spaces might be seen as borders or boundaries occupied by all Canadians: points of contestation and friction, which must somehow answer to all whose lives its touches. And as the identity of those who occupy these borders shift--with some players moving out while others enter--the rigidity of the museum map is slowly being challenged

Peeling back the layers of learning: A classroom model for problem-based learning

This paper aims to provide an informative discussion with underpinning rationales about the use of a problem-based learning (PBL) classroom model, supported by a structured process for undertaking PBL. PBL was implemented as a main teaching and learning strategy for a diploma in nursing programme as advised by the Department of Health [Department of Health., 1999. Making a difference: Strengthening the Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Contribution to Health and Health Care. Department of Health, London.] and the United Kingdom Central Council for nurses, midwifes and health visitors [United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, 1999. Fitness for Practice. UKCC, London.]. The implementation and change to the PBL approach is not without challenges, and so it was considered important to facilitate this change effectively. Through ongoing reflection, peer discussions and continuous review of the literature following studies at Masters Level, it was identified that the design of a model may guide students and facilitators who were new to the PBL process to help students identify relevant learning needs and thus enable them to achieve the learning outcomes of a dynamic curriculum

Plethora or paucity: A systematic search and bibliometric study of the application and design of qualitative methods in nursing research 2008–2010

Qualitative methodology has increased in application and acceptability in all research disciplines. In nursing, it is appropriate that a plethora of qualitative methods can be found as nurses pose real-world questions to clinical, cultural and ethical issues of patient care ( Johnson, 2007; Long and Johnson, 2007 ), yet the methods nurses readily use in pursuit of answers remains under intense scrutiny. One of the problems with qualitative methodology for nursing research is its place in the hierarchy of evidence (HOE); another is its comparison to the positivist constructs of what constitutes good research and the measurement of qualitative research against this. In order to position and strengthen its evidence base, nursing may well seek to distance itself from a qualitative perspective and utilise methods at the top of the HOE; yet given the relation of qualitative methods to nursing this would constrain rather than broaden the profession in search of answers and an evidence base. The comparison between qualitative and quantitative can be both mutually exclusive and rhetorical, by shifting the comparison this study takes a more reflexive position and critically appraises qualitative methods against the standards set by qualitative researchers. By comparing the design and application of qualitative methods in nursing over a two year period, the study examined how qualitative stands up to independent rather than comparative scrutiny. For the methods, a four-step mixed methods approach newly constructed by the first author was used to define the scope of the research question and develop inclusion criteria. 2. Synthesis tables were constructed to organise data, 3. Bibliometrics configured data. 4. Studies selected for inclusion in the review were critically appraised using a critical interpretive synthesis (Dixon-Woods et al., 2006). The paper outlines the research process as well as findings. Results showed of the 240 papers analysed, 27% used ad hoc or no references to qualitative; methodological terms such as thematic analysis or constant comparative methods were used inconsistently; qualitative was a catch-all panacea rather than a methodology with well-argued terms or contextual definititio